Russia Approves Second COVID-19 Vaccine, With Third One Coming Soon

Ever since COVID-19 first broke out, we all have been desperately hoping for scientists to develop a vaccine that takes down the novel coronavirus.

Vaccine makers around the world are striving hard to bring the most effective vaccine, subject to regulatory approvals.

Reuters

However, while several vaccines were undergoing their human trials, Russia went ahead and launched its COVID-19 vaccine ¡®Sputnik V¡¯, claiming the first vaccine against COVID-19, which started rolling out to the citizens of Russia in August.

And now, according to a report by Reuters, Putin has announced that another COVID-19 vaccine has received approval -- EpiVacCorona. He made this announcement in a press conference stating, "I have a nice piece of news. The Novosibirsk-based Vektor Centre has registered a second coronavirus vaccine, EpiVacCorona.¡±

The vaccine has been developed by Vector Institute from Siberia. The vaccine has successfully completed its initial stages of human trials in September, however, the results aren¡¯t made publicly available. Moreover, Phase III trials for the vaccine are yet to commence.

Putin further added, "We need to increase production of the first and second vaccine. We are continuing to cooperate with our foreign partners and will promote our vaccine abroad."

The tech behind the vaccine

According to reports, Russian authorities claim that the new vaccine has a different tech under the hood, when compared to the Sputnik V. While the former used an adenovirus vector, the new EpiVacCorona uses a synthetic peptide vector which is known to be a lot safer.

They tested the vaccine among 100 volunteers in early-stage, placebo-controlled human trials, which lasted more than two months and were completed two weeks ago. The volunteers were between 18 and 60 years old.A broader study involving 40,000 volunteers is expected to start sometime in November.

Reuters

A third Russian vaccine in the works

This isn¡¯t all. Russia¡¯s chief, Putin has also announced that the researchers are working on yet another vaccine at the Chumakov Institute in St Petersburg.

Early stage clinical trials for this vaccine are expected to start this month involving 300 volunteers.